The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-07-27
THE PORT OF VERA CRUZ,
SCENES IN MExICo's CHIEF CITY
ON THE GULF.

Open-Air Entertainments-Fi
as Playthings-The Prison Fort
ress.
A correspondent of the San Francisco
Chronicle says, in letter from Vera Cruz,
Mexico: The streets are cobblestoned,
with open sewers down the center,
crossed by kennel-shaped little bridges,
always set little above the corner. The
streets are fairly wide and straight, and
are tolerably clean, not seldom grass
grown. An admirable system of street
cars exists here, as in most Mexican
cities of any size. The houses are
mostly two story, with one occasionally
lifted to something of three-decker dig
nifty by virtue of an entresol.
The favorite architectural color is q
lively yellow, picked out with green,
which imparts whimsical air of ambi-
ton, taken in conjunction with the time
worn and venerable aspect of the town as
a whole Indeed, the general appearance
suggests a household where the worn
and faded carpet is patched to degree,
and the furniture furnished up to pre-
serve the scmblance of gentility.
A feature which gives to the nocturnal
phases of Vera Cruz gay and attractive
air is the fashion of al fresco entertain
ment. One passes the hotels and cafes
in the evening to find them deserted
within, while the wide, stone-pavod ar
cades before them are thickly lined with
little tables and chairs, ct which sit hun
dreds of men slipping their coffee, or 9th
er after dinner beverages, chatting, gos-
slipping, laughing. These portales are
really a sort of exchange whittier one
turns to find friend whom one may seek
after business hours. 1t is said that the
gentlemen of Vera Cruz do not take their
coffee at table Immediately after dinner,
as is the custom, not even when dining
at home, but rather postpone it until they
stroll out to the portales. Ladies are not
seen here, however, in conformity with
their social restrictions in Mexico.
A charming walk, especially at night,
is to the promenade, which here CORE
spends to the alameda of other Mexican
towns in the district known as Extra
Muros or Beyond the Walls"-although
no city walls now remain, and the suburb
is populous. Here is calzada, or paved
walk, between two rows on either side of
tall and thick old cocoanut palms, where
one may walk while one hears the waves
breaking in surf against the seawall close
by; or the traveller may rest on the stuc-
coed benches and dream of the history of
Vera Cruz in bygone days, under the
white CLEAN of the lighthouse.
OF these beacOns OF aid there are three
One with electric lights up at the Ex-
ira Muros, another in the tower of what
was once a church, converted since the
time of Juarez to the uses of library,
and a warning to the mariner. Then over
at Ulua another beacon tower sends its
, rays streaming out to sea.
At night one may see the children in
the streets playing with luciernaga-a
great tirefly-tied to a string, and men go
about with net-covered baskets full Oi
cocuyos--a smaller variety--for sale.
These insects are also carried up to the
City of Mexico, where on holiday occa-
sions, one may see them on the Hocalo,
worn by both sexes. Ladies imprison
them-sometimes a whole handful--in
the lace at the throat or on the head, and
men wear them on the coat, buttOnniere
fashion, by means of hairpin straddled
thoraX and abdomen, so that the phos-
phorescent little creatures are not hurt,
further than by restraint.
Now and then one has touch of the
metropolis, seeing an old woman sitting
on the curb, with a mat before her, hold
ing choice collection of cigar stumps,
gathered into little heaps, so many for a
chico, as the coast people call the Guar
tilla or three cents of the plateau.
1t gives Il squeamish sensation, too, tC
see pailful of devil fish; for the poulpe
is largely eaten and is regarded as II great
delicacy, eyen in the capital. But a
nastier, less appctizing matter it would
be hard to find than this disgusting ami
NAL
The market of Vera Cruz is uninterest-
ing as TO sight and ensemble, and not
particularly good as to wares, even in
| The fish line. 1t is said, and with some
probability, that the best fish is shipped
to the interior, as it used to be in the days
when-vide tradition-th the choice of the
in Montezuma' S capital twenty-four hours
after it was taken from the sea.
There is little to be seen in Vera Cruz
that is of interest to a strangcr-th6
| library, situate as aforesaid in Il former
church, whose tower is now a lighthouse
an orphan asylum; the yellow fever hos
| pital, if ones pluck be good; the Black
Christ, and that is about all. The
charitable institutions are notably simple
for their systematic and effective man
agement The Black Christ is an image
IN chapel out by the a-Muros, and
VIII lie il is somewhat tawny in color, it il
by no means so indicative of the native
faith in a Saviour of their own colour a
another etiigy | saw at Cuantla, which
really was typical, not only as to tn,
much darker hue, but also in feature anC
expression.
At Ulua are lighthouse, observation
and signal tower, and there are confined
$50 of the worst criminals in Mexico
watched over by garrison of eight.
soldiers. This castle, with its walls thre
meters thick, seems to be as firm as tn
solid rock on which it stands, but it is
nevertheless, undergoing repairs for dc
cay, resulting not so much from the raw
ages of time as from the injuries wrough
by myriads of urchins, or echinC
derms. The dark -browed, villainous
faced prisoners offered us, as we passe
through the gloom of their hopeless den'
wonderful cups, eggs, rings, turtles
baskets and what not carved in darknes